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KidsPeace Baltimore Foster Care 5K Trick or Trot to be Hosted by Angela and Buck Showalter October 29, 2011

Anticipation is building as KidsPeace Foster Care in Baltimore fine-tunes plans for the Second Annual 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, October 29, 2011 through the neighborhood of Canton and Patterson Park. Click here to register online. The hosts of this fundraiser are Angela and Buck Showalter. They are enthusiastic supporters of KidsPeace foster care efforts to successfully place foster children and teens with carefully matched families.

The aptly named “Trick or Trot” race promises to be a wonderful family (and that includes pets) event with features that include:

• The first 400 registered runners will receive an Under Armour race t-shirt. • Fantastic gift certificates for top runners and age group winners. • Food and Halloween fun following the run/walk in O'Donnell Square with the Oriole Bird and the Chick-fil-A cow.• Everyone is encouraged to dress for Halloween, and prizes will be given for best individual, family and pet costumes.• Register as a team and raise funds for foster care youth; the top 3 teams that raise the most money win awesome team prizes like tickets to a 2012 Orioles game, a Wine Tasting for 20 or a large bar tab to a great Baltimore watering hole!• Be a “Snooze Button Runner”; if you are not able to attend, "run" from the convenience of your bedroom.• Attend a pre-race party on the Square Friday, October 28, where you can pick up your race packet, have a Natty Boh, listen to some great local music and enjoy the restaurants and shops on the Square.• Every registrant will be entered into a drawing for prizes, with winners being selected at the awards ceremony after the race(must be present to win). • There will be Trick or Treating and face painting for the kids courtesy of O’Donnell Square businesses • Parking will be on streets surrounding DuBurns Arena and O'Donnell Square

Company and individual sponsors and volunteers will be very welcome. Please spread the word at work and home that every contribution and effort will directly benefit KidsPeace Foster Care and Community Programs of Maryland and help raise awareness and funds for youth in foster care in Maryland.

According to Program Director Diane Sancilio, last year’s event was a huge success, raising more than $25,000 in cash and from in-kind donations and sponsorships from businesses in the O’Donnell Square area. “Business owners arrived at the finish lines with their families to provide crafts for the children, food, beverages and even electricity for the speaker system from one enthusiastic restaurant. All of the merchants and volunteers truly embraced the race/walk and the foster children KidsPeace serves.”

For more information, to volunteer or to become a sponsor, please contact Gina Seyfried (410) 964-9329 or gina.seyfried@kidspeace.org.

On Saturday, August 20, KidsPeace officially received a generous grant from the Verizon Wireless HopeLine Program and the Verizon Foundation to fund a new anti-bullying section on TeenCentral.Net. The check was presented during KidsPeace’s 14th Annual Soccer Invitational, which was sponsored by Verizon Wireless to benefit TeenCentral.Net as well. Mario Turco, President of the Philadelphia Tri-State Region of Verizon Wireless, presented a $20,000 check to KidsPeace CEO and President Will Isemann and Director of TC.N and PC.N Dr. Julius Licata. Some 80 teams competed during the tournament, and all received information about TeenCentral.Net in their team packets.

Bullying is a serious problem that affects teens from every part of the world and is growing at alarming rates. The leadership at Verizon Wireless realizes that bullying is reaching epidemic proportions and chose TeenCentral.Net to reach out to the teens of the world to let them know that they are not alone and can receive help, counseling and information from the site to support them and help them cope with bullying by other teens at school, in their neighborhoods and in cyberspace. The $20,000 will fund the development of a comprehensive section of TeenCentral.Net to address bullying and its dangerous consequences.

Verizon Wireless has also donated funds to continue their support of the TeenCentral.Net Domestic Violence section on TeenCentral.Net.

Mario Turco, President of the Philadelphia Tri-State Region of Verizon Wireless,

presents check to Dr. Julius Licata and Will Iseman

About TeenCentral.NetTeenCentral.Net is KidsPeace’s award-winning website for teens. It is anonymous and free, and is a safe site where teens can write in with their questions and issues and receive advice from Master’s and PhD level counselors within 24 hours. More than half a million teens are members of TeenCentral.Net where they “log in and work it out” about any topic. The site format ensures that all posts by teens are reviewed and approved by our counselors, and responding posts from other teens are screened before being published as well.

In addition to teen posts, TeenCentral.Net also contains pages that address important topics for teens such as domestic and dating abuse, weight issues, smoking cessation, books of interest to teens and news. Additionally, TeenCentral.Net contains stories from celebrities in sports and entertainment who experienced and overcame similar issues when they were teens.

Earlier this year, KidsPeace launched ParentCentral.Net to help parents deal with the issues of raising children in today’s world. Similar to TeenCentral.Net, ParentCentral.Net offers educational information and replies to posts by parents within 24 hours. The Bullying section on TeenCentral.Net will also be accessible to members of ParentCentral.Net, helping parents recognize the signs that their children are being bullied or bullying other youth.